


Lost and found footage

by Beleriandings



Series: It changes you [3]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Found Family, Gen, Post-Episode: s03e05 Children Of Earth - Day 5, Series 03 Fix-It: Children of Earth (Torchwood), past temporary character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:20:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28967472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beleriandings/pseuds/Beleriandings
Summary: In an old box of leftover Torchwood things, Ianto finds an old camcorder.
Relationships: Gwen Cooper & Ianto Jones, Gwen Cooper & Ianto Jones & Rhys Williams & Jack Harkness
Series: It changes you [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2123109
Comments: 20
Kudos: 33





	Lost and found footage

**Author's Note:**

> Set within the universe of my series _It changes you_ , but I don't think you really need to read the rest; all you need to know is that Ianto died in Children of Earth Day Four as per canon, but then got brought back (by Gwen, though that's not essential here).

Ianto was working on unpacking today, and had been for some time; it was a slow process, moving the lives of five people (one of whom was admittedly an unborn baby, not that that apparently lessened the amount of stuff) and they were doing it room by room.

So far, progress had been slow. It was nearly midday though, and he’d been working since the sun came up. Therefore, he reasoned, a break was justified. He’d just discovered an old camcorder in a box labeled “ _spare electronic components (+Torchwood salvage)_ ”, so what was he supposed to do? Not take a look?

Ianto opened the camcorder screen, rummaging around for the charging cable; he had to test several before he found the right one, that plugged it into the laptop with a bright electronic trill.

He frowned, as a window popped up; there were several videos on the camcorder. He watched the first few, from the spring and summer months of 2009; yes, definitely Torchwood days, he thought with a fond smile. When he started to scroll through though, he realised that most of them were Rhys recording videos of house viewings he’d been to. Presumably for Gwen to watch later, he realised; he remembered her regret for all the times when she’d had to miss the appointments Rhys made them, because of a rogue weevil of a piece of Rift debris, or some other case that would need more than two people to handle.

He smiled gently, as he scrolled through the videos; there were more, a little home video of Gwen dancing in the kitchen in her pyjamas to Lady Gaga, which made him laugh, filled with affection. A short video of some friends Ianto didn’t know, but vaguely recognised from the wedding. More videos of Gwen, a video of a dark sky with blurry planets hanging in it, too large, which made Ianto wince at the memory.

And then there was one final video. Ianto frowned, as he stared at it; there was a little gap in the dates, he saw, between the penultimate and the final video on the camcorder.

The thumbnail showed Gwen’s face, badly lit and blurry, wearing a frown.

But it was the date stamp that caught Ianto’s eye, and he recognised it instantly.

It was the day after he’d died.

He stared at the video thumbnail for a full minute, before slowly, tentatively, clicking on it.

Gwen’s face blurred into focus, too close to the camera, the contrast too high and the picture too grainy. Whoever was holding the camera was also having a hard job holding it steady.

Gwen’s voice sounded from the computer, making Ianto almost jump.

“ _There's one thing I always meant to ask Jack. Back in the old days I wanted to know about that Doctor of his. All those times in history when there's no sign of him, I wanted to know why not. But I don't need to ask any more. I know the answer now. Sometimes the Doctor must look at this planet and turn away in shame. I'm recording this in case anyone, in case anyone ever finds it, so you can see. You can see how the world ended._ ”

The video came to an end, the picture freezing.

Ianto simply sat there staring at it for a moment; then, he replayed the video from the start. And again.

And again.

It was then that he realised the blur in his eyes were tears, running down his face as he stared at Gwen’s frozen, pixelated gaze on the screen.

“Ianto? Are you–”

He whirled, to see Gwen in the doorway. She’d frozen, eyes locking on the laptop screen in front of him. “Oh...” she said. “Oh, God, that’s...”

“Yeah...” he said, choked.

“Oh, _Ianto_ , I'm sorry, I thought Rhys would’ve deleted that by now...” Her lip wobbled, and Ianto felt very cold inside. She came over to wrap her arms around him from behind and he bowed his head, pressing his face softly against her sleeve.

“Gwen...” he said. “If I had been there...”

“ _Stop_ ,” she said, with a warning squeeze. She sounded utterly brittle, holding onto him too tight. “I don’t feel like that anymore,” she said. “Jack was gone, you were…”

“Dead.”

She swallowed, pressing a kiss to his hair. “Yeah… the point is, the world was going to shit. I was… well. I’d lost hope.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be there to give it to you,” he said.

She pulled him to his feet at that, tucking her face against his collarbone; she was heavily pregnant now which made hugging hard, but she did her best anyway. “It is _not_ your fault,” she muttered fiercely. “Ianto…”

Suddenly, a voice came from behind them. “Oh, there you two are! Jack, they’re in here!” said Rhys cheerily, appearing at the door. “We’ve been looking for… _oh_.”

Just then Jack appeared at the door too, with a sunny smile. “What’re you two getting up to without–” he broke off too, sensing the mood in the room.

“That video...” said Rhys, looking upset. “Ianto, I'm so sorry...”

“’S’okay,” he said, wondering vaguely why everyone kept apologising to him. He’d been dead, he hadn’t even had to live through it. That terrible hopelessness; Gwen had told him about it, a little, and the rest he could read from the silence between them and the tension in Jack’s shoulders whenever it came up. “Honestly Rhys. It’s fine.”

But before Rhys could answer, Jack was striding into the room and pulling them all into a hug, trying as best he could to hold all three of them within the circle of his arms; he made quite a good job of it, Ianto thought. Desperate for reassurance, he tucked his face against Jack’s shoulder, breathing in the familiar smell of him as the others squeezed him tight.

“It’s okay,” soothed Jack, voice cracking slightly. “It’s over now. We’re all here.”

Yes, Ianto realised, relaxing into the warmth of the three of them, clinging on to him as though to shield him from the whole world.

Whatever else may happen, at least there was that.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a small extra thing set in this AU because I couldn't get enough of it after posting the OT4 fic, and I had to inflict this painful idea on my readers :)))


End file.
